Bryan Nikkel enters his third season as an assistant coach working with catchers and hitters with the Augustana baseball program in 2014.
Nikkel, a native of Grand Rapids, Minn., is a former letterwinner at Southwest Minnesota State, where he played catcher for the Mustangs from 2004 to 2007. During his career at SMSU, Nikkel batted .297 and drove in 49 runs. Following his playing career, he was an assistant coach for the Mustangs from 2008 to 2010.
At SMSU, Nikkel helped guide the baseball program to its first NCAA tournament appearance in 2009 while the team set records in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs scored, home runs and RBIs.
Nikkel was the head coach of the Marshall American Legion Post 320 from June 2009 through June of 2011.
A 2007 graduate of SMSU with a degree in sports management, Nikkel is also pursuing a master’s degree from SMSU. From 2004-07, Nikkel was the head coach of the Grand Rapids VFW Post 1720 team. He guided the Grand Rapids, Minn. team to a 30-win season and its first state tournament appearance in more than 10 years.
He resides in Sioux Falls with his wife, Kasey and their daughter, Sloan.
